Film Review: 'All The Best' is a fun ride

Film: All The Best (U/A)
Director: Rohit Shetty
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devg(a)n, Fardeen Khan, Bipasha Basu, Mughda Godse, Johnny Lever and others
Rating: ***

Anyone who’s seen last year’s Diwali hit, Golmaal Returns, should know what to expect from one of this year's Diwali release, All The Best. An ensemble cast, a horde of characters, ensuing confusion, a comedy of errors and eye-filling songs seems to be the mantra the team of Rohit Shetty and Ajay Devgn swear by. They stick to the plan here too, and the result is not so bad.

All The Best, which the makers claim is a remake of a play – Right Bed, Wrong Husband – is the perfect watch for the holiday season. It’s funny, entertaining and clean enough for the entire family to have a good laugh without worrying about too many double entrendes. Not that the film’s without its share of noise and silliness that plague most of our comedies. But this one makes you laugh more than cringe.

The plot is wafer-thin. Veer (Khan) is a struggling musician living in Goa, who survives with the help of the generous ‘pocket money’ his rich step brother Dharam (Dutt) sends him every month. In order to increase the sum Dharam sends home, Veer lies to him about having married his girlfriend Vidya (Godse), following which Dharam sends double the amount of money, so that the couple can live comfortably.

The lie benefits Veer and his friend Prem (Devgn), who dreams of building fast cars but is jobless otherwise, as it lets them pursue their dreams without worrying about where the money will come from. Prem’s wife Jhanvi (Basu) runs a rundown gym left behind by Prem’s father.

The trouble starts when Dharam pays Veer a visit, mistakes Jhanvi to be Veer’s wife and Vidya to be Prem’s girlfriend. There are subplots about a gangster Tobu (Johnny Lever), who Prem and Veer owe money to and a man called Raghunandandas Govardhandas Vakawle, or RGV (Sanjay Mishra), who’s been given Dharam’s bungalow on rent in his absence. There’s also a maid (Ashwini Kalsekar) who has a thing for Dharam’s manager (Mukesh Tiwari).

If the story seems to be a little confusing, then that’s just how it’s meant to be. The film relies on comedy arising from the misunderstandings created only so that Dharam doesn’t find out the truth. Even though the drama becomes predictable after a point, the gags keep you engaged.

The dialogues (Sajid-Farhad and Bunty Rathore), especially, are witty and help making a supposedly simple plot fun to watch. The characters are wacky too. Tobu is mute and communicates by tinkling a glass with a spoon, which is then translated by his cronie (Vijay Patkar). The maid has a south Indian twang, while RGV talks in Pran-style. 

The casting is just right. Few would fit in the shoes of Dharam Kapoor better than Dutt. Just after watching him look out-of-shape and jaded in Blue, it’s good to see him having lost some weight and in-form in a role that’s probably the most important in the film. The makers have presented him well and in spite of being the film’s producer, Ajay Devgn has taken a backseat to Dutt.

Devgn himself is spot on and seems to be getting better at comedy with every film. Playing the lovable rogue Prem Chopra (the name is used to good effect), the inventor of all the confusion in the drama, Devgn is great with his timing. Fardeen doesn’t have much to do but does well in the little scope he gets to perform. Bipasha has a much lengthier role than Mughda Godse and does well. 

Ashwini Kalsekar elicits a few laughs as the maid, and so does Asrani as Mughda’s baap. Mishra has his moments as RGV, but irritates in most sequences. But the film’s best surprise is the return-to-form of Johnny Lever.

After doing inconsequential roles in most movies off late, here he gets a role that may not be too long as far as screen time goes, but which does great justice to his awesome comic talent. Playing mute for most part of the film, Lever is hilarious, and only gets better in the climax when he gets his voice back.

Rohit Shetty shows that he’s mastered the art of making wholesome entertainers that has all the ingredients in the right quantities: music, romance, action and of course, comedy. He seems to have become more confident of delivering the formula after Golmaal Returns and it shows.

He especially deserves credit for extracting good performances out of actors not exactly known for their comic timing. Hopefully, Shetty will not get stuck in a rut and be able to give better and more entertaining films in the future. We don’t want another Sunday after all!

All The Best may not be the best comedy ever made, but has enough laughs to ensure you get your money’s worth. Of course, like most other films of this genre, it would be advisable to not go looking for too much sense and sensibilities in this one.

As the tagline of the film suggests, this one surely is a fun ride.